sábado, 4 de octubre de 2008

Video games have some of the most amazing characters and graphics. People often adapt these characters into real life in what is now termed Cosplay. If you have a favorite character you would like to bring to life why not try it out this Fall with Halloween costumes that, with a little imagination, can turn your favorite video game hero or villain into a real life character. Choose your character costumes from among “The Best Video Games in the History of Humanity” and throw a costume party for all your friends with a bunch of T.V’s set up with all the best games ready to be played. Have prizes for best costumes, highest score and anything else you can think of. With a little planning it could be one of the best parties of the year

The Best Video Games in the History of Humanity

I'm not the only guy who likes making lists. Over the years, many gaming magazines and websites have made lengthy lists of their own in an attempt to compile comprehensive guides chronicling the best video games of all time. Here is a summary of some of the leading Top 10s, as excerpted from various Top 100 lists.

I have tried to be as diverse and inclusive as possible in my selection of lists. Some will inevitably appear more credible than others, but my intent was quantity more than quality. By assembling a collection of lists that was as vast as possible, I was hoping to see if there appears to be any consensus as to what games truly are history's best. My findings come at the end.

PLATFORMS

PC

Arcade

NES

Super Nintendo

Playstation

Nintendo 64

Sega Saturn

Dreamcast

Sega Saturn

Game Cube

Playstation 2

X Box

Multiple

Game Boy

Note: As the years progress, games tend to appear on more and more systems. For example, today you can play Super Mario Bros. on Gameboy Advance, and Ocarina of Time on the Game Cube. In the interest of preserving each game's original "flavor," whenever possible I have identified games on the basis of which platform they were primarily designed for. Games that were actively intended to be on multiple platforms at the time of their original debut are the ones that get the "multiple" status. I use English names for games, but usually Japanese release dates.

Computer and Video Games magazine (2001)(I've had to piece this list together through second-hand sources. Please help me fill in the blanks)

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Nintendo

1998

2

Super Mario 64

Nintendo

1996

3

?

4

?

5

Goldeneye 007

Rare

1997

6

Super Mario Kart

Nintendo

1992

7

Super Mario World

Nintendo

1991

8

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Nintendo

1992

9

Tetris

Alexey Pajitnov

1987

10

?

GamesRadar.com (2000)

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo

1985

2

Metal Gear: Solid

Konami

1998

3

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Nintendo

1998

4

DOOM

id / GT Interactive

1993

5

Civilization 2

Microprose

1996

6

Tetris

Alexey Pajitnov

1987

7

StarCraft

Blizzard

1998

8

Goldeneye 007

Rare

1997

9

Resident Evil: Code Veronica

Capcom

2000

10

Street Fighter II (Turbo)

Capcom

1991

Note: With the exception of SMB, GamesRadar recognized entire "franchises" in their list. The specific games mentioned are the ones the authors note as the "bests" of the series.

Nintendorks.com (2000)

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Nintendo

1992

2

Super Mario 64

Nintendo

1996

3

Goldeneye 007

Rare

1997

4

Final Fantasy III (VI)

Squaresoft

1994

5

Super Mario Bros. 3

Nintendo

1990

6

Legend of Zelda

Nintendo

1986

7

Super Mario Kart

Nintendo

1992

8

Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo

1985

9

Tetris

Alexey Pajitnov

1987

10

Punch-Out!

Nintendo

1987

Note: List was limited to games appearing on Nintendo platforms.

Next Generation magazine (1999)

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Nintendo

1998

2

Tetris

Alexey Pajitnov

1987

3

Super Mario 64

Nintendo

1996

4

Civilization

Microprose

1991

5

Quake II

id

1996

6

Super Metroid

Nintendo

1994

7

Super Mario Kart

Nintendo

1992

8

Virtua Fighter 2

Sega

1995

9

Street Fighter II

Capcom

1991

10

Goldeneye 007

Rare

1997

Note: In this list Next Gen has made my life difficult by identifying four "series" in their top 10 (#1 is the "Zelda series," #3 is the "Mario series," #4 is the "Civilization series," and #6 is the "Metroid series"). To keep this list in the style of all the others, I have thus tampered with it, and inserted games from each series which I think they would be statistically most likely to have chosen as the "best" game of each franchise.

Note 2: This is Next Generation''s second list. They also made a list in 1996 (included below).

Electronic Gaming Monthly (1997)issue 100

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Tetris

Alexey Pajitnov

1987

2

Super Mario Bros. 3

Nintendo

1990

3

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Nintendo

1992

4

Super Mario 64

Nintendo

1996

5

Street Fighter II (Turbo)

Capcom

1991

6

Super Metroid

Nintendo

1994

7

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Nintendo

1995

8

Contra III: The Alien Wars

Konami

1992

9

Final Fantasy III (VI)

Squaresoft

1994

10

Saturn Bomberman

Hudson Soft

1997

Nintendo Power magazine (1997)issue 100

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Super Mario 64

Nintendo

1996

2

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Nintendo

1992

3

Tetris

Alexey Pajitnov

1987

4

Mario Kart 64

Nintendo

1997

5

Super Mario Bros. 3

Nintendo

1990

6

Super Metroid

Nintendo

1994

7

Goldeneye 007

Rare

1997

8

Final Fantasy II (IV)

Squaresoft

1991

9

Final Fantasy III (VI)

Squaresoft

1994

10

Street Fighter II (Turbo)

Capcom

1991

Note: List was limited to games appearing on Nintendo platforms.

Next Generation magazine (1996)

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Super Mario 64

Nintendo

1996

2

Tetris

Alexey Pajitnov

1987

3

Super Bomberman 2

Hudson Soft

1994

4

Civilization

Microprose

1991

5

Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo

1985

6

Virtua Fighter 2

Sega

1995

7

Street Fighter II

Capcom

1991

8

Lemmings

Psygnosis

1990

9

Quake

id / GT Interactive

1996

10

Warcraft 2

Blizzard

1995

Note: Number 5 on this list was actually the "Mario series," which was an odd choice, since presumably Super Mario 64 is part of the "Mario series" as well.

Overall

Assuming these lists represent voices of authority in the gaming community, we can easily make a cumulative list averaging out the most universally popular games. I'm not smart enough to do mathematical averages of rank, but based on sheer popularity (as defined by appearing on 14 or more lists, ie: at least 50%), the top five games of all time seem to be:

1

Super Mario 64 (19 out of 28 lists)

67%

2

Tetris (appears on 18 out of the 28)

64%

2

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (18 out of 28)

64%

3

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (15 out of 28)

53%

4

Street Fighter II (14 out of 28)

50%

As you can see, it's very close. Every time I update this list with a new chart number the top five fluctuates.

Other popular titles:

Goldeneye 007 (11 out of 27)

Super Mario Bros. (10 out of 27)

Super Metroid (9 out of 27)

Final Fantasy III / VI (9 out of 27)

Final Fantasy VII (7 out of 27)

Platform totals

1

PC (21 games)

2

Super Nintendo (11)

3

Multiple (10)

3

Playstation 2 (10)

4

NES (9)

5

Playstation (7)

6

Nintendo GameCube (5)

6

Arcade (5)

7

Nintendo 64 (4)

8

Sega Saturn (2)

8

X Box (2)

9

Sega Dreamcast (1)

9

Game Boy (1)

Conclusions

These lists inevitably represent a whole host of different agendas, outlooks, and opinions on what constitutes a "great" video game. Some placed a great emphasis on recognizing games that were historically "relevant" or "innovative" while others simply celebrated games that were fun to play.

The fact that PC games have such a high total overall is largely an indication that there is not much consensus over which PC games are best. Despite their groundbreaking work in many genres, in the end it seems that PC games have been unable to really capture the public's imagination in the same way console games have.

If we are to name a "golden era" of gaming, it appears to be the mid-to-late 90's. The early arcade / PC era of the 80's has apparently been largely forgotten, and few post-1999 games appear to have left much of an impact. Nintendo Power's 1997 list, though now almost ten years old, thus stands up well today, as the classics it recognized still remain amongst the most contemporarily popular.

Other thoughts:

- Action games tend to be the most popular genre.

- Sonic the Hedgehog is not popular. In fact, Sega in general has not left much of a legacy, with no Genesis games making anyone's lists.

- Tetris is the only puzzle game anyone seems to care about.

- The most popular video game character of all time is clearly Link, closely followed by Mario.

- Despite being the famed "first video game ever" Pong has not aged well, and today no one seems to consider it relevant. Pac Man and Space Invaders are also surprisingly unpopular.

Know a list I missed? Please Email me- wart_mamu@yahoo.com

Oh yeah. I've had some requests to include my own personal top ten, so here goes. I'm not really that knowledgeable about video games... there are a lot of classics I've never played. But I know what I like. These are the ten games Iconsider to be the most brilliant:

Rank

Title

Publisher

Year

1

Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo

1985

2

Super Mario 64

Nintendo

1996

3

Donkey Kong Country 3

Rare

1996

4

Final Fantasy VII

Squaresoft

1997

5

Super Mario World 2

Nintendo

1996

6

Banjo-Tooie

Rare

1998

7

Pac Man

Namco

1980

8

Earthbound

Nintendo

1995

9

Monkey Island 2

Lucas Arts

1990

10

Megaman 3

Capcom

1990

Brilliant is the key word. These are all games that I look at with a sense of admiration for what went into them. They are just so well put together and... ingenious. Someday I'll write a more in-depth explanation of why each one has won my heart in its own unique way.